Minecraft Animal Breeding Guides

There are a variety of reasons for Minecraft players to breed animals, including securing a consistent food source and protecting the player and their base. In this guide, I'll explain everything you'll need to know about all 25 breedable animals in Minecraft.

Rules for breeding animals in Minecraft

There are a few rules for breeding every kind of animal in Minecraft. These apply to each of the animals on this list without exceptions.

• Before breeding, each animal needs to eat a certain food.
  • Players will know that a feeding is successful because the animal will emit red hearts, which signal that it is ready to breed.
• Animals must be within eight blocks of another animal ready to breed to produce a baby.
• After breeding, the two parent animals cannot breed again for five minutes.
• Baby animals will take 20 minutes to mature in-game.
  • Maturing can be sped up by feeding the baby certain kinds of food.

How to breed every animal in Minecraft

This list contains all 25 animals in alphabetical order. I've included where they spawn, the items needed to breed them, and the intricate details of breeding each specific species.

Armadillo

Home: Savannas and Badlands

Breeding Food: Spider Eyes

Spider Eyes are used to breed Armadillos and make baby Armadillos grow up faster. Be careful not to startle Armadillos while they are breeding. If they roll into a ball, the breeding process will end early and you'll have to feed them more Spider Eyes to restart the process. Baby Armadillos will roll into a ball like their parents. However, they will not drop Scutes naturally and cannot be brushed for them.

Axolotl

Home: Lush Caves

Breeding Food: Bucket of tropical fish

Both Axolotls and Tropical Fish can be found in Lush Caves, making it easy to breed them right from the start. When breeding two Axolotls, there is a 1 in 1,200 chance for the baby to be a rare blue Axolotl. If it’s not blue, it will randomly take the color of one of its parents. They can be fed buckets of Tropical Fish to speed up their growth.

Bee

Home: Plains, Meadows, Non-Snowy Forests, Cherry Groves

Breeding Food: Flowers

Bees can be fed any type of flower to speed up their growth. While they take the same amount of time to grow into adults as other animals, that growing time excludes any time spent inside their beehive.

Camel

Home: Desert Villages

Breeding Food: Cactus

Baby Camels cannot be ridden, but otherwise act like mini replicas of their parents. Feed them cactus to speed up their growth.

Cat

Home: Villages, Swamp Huts

Breeding Food: Raw Cod or Raw Salmon

In order to breed Cats, they must first be tamed. The resulting Kitten will have the coloration of one of their parents and will belong to the owner of that Cat. Two sitting Cats cannot be bred, but one sitting Cat and one Cat running around freely can breed, with the owner of the freely moving cat becoming the owner of the Kitten. Give them raw fish to help them grow faster.

Chicken

Home: Grassy biomes

Breeding Food: Seeds

There are two ways to breed Chickens. The first is by breeding two adult Chickens with seeds of any kind, which will produce a baby Chicken. The second is by picking up the eggs randomly laid by Chickens and throwing them at the ground, which has a 1 in 8 chance to spawn a baby Chicken. They can be fed seeds to speed up their growth.

Cow

Home: Grassy biomes

Breeding Food: Wheat

Unlike their adult forms, baby Cows prefer to stay near a parent rather than a player holding wheat. If they become too separated from their parents, they’ll go to the nearest adult cow instead. They can be fed wheat to speed up their growing process.

Donkey

Home: Plains, Meadows, Savannahs

Breeding Food: Golden Apple, Golden Enchanted Apple, Golden Carrot

Like Cats, Donkeys must be tamed before breeding. Unlike Cats, however, the Donkey Foal is considered untamed and does not belong to the player. They can be fed Golden Apples or Golden Carrots in order to grow up faster.

Fox

Home: Taiga biomes, Groves

Breeding Food: Glow Berries, Sweet Berries

Foxes are one of the harder animals to breed in Minecraft. They will run from the player’s every approach, so using crouch to sneak is a must. To make it easier, players can choose to box them in so that they cannot run or jump away. The baby Fox created will be unafraid of the player, but they may run away from them if nearby foxes are doing the same. They can be fed Glow or Sweet Berries in order to mature faster.

Frog

Home: Swamps

Breeding Food: Slimeball

After breeding two Frogs together, one of them will become pregnant and will seek out adjacent water blocks to lay eggs in. These eggs, called Frogspawn in the game, take 10 minutes to hatch and produce anywhere from 2 to 5 Tadpoles. The type of Frog they grow into depends on whether they are in a temperate, warm, or cold biome. Feeding them slimeballs will cause them to grow faster.

Related: How to get Slimeballs in Minecraft

Goat

Home: Mountainous biomes

Breeding Food: Wheat

Goats can be either standard or screaming. If a Standard Goat is bred with a Screaming Goat, the baby has a 50-50 chance to be either. If two Screaming Goats are bred, the baby has a 100% chance of being a Screaming Goat in Java edition and a 98% chance of being a Screamer Goat in Bedrock Edition. The time it takes for them to grow can be decreased by feeding them wheat.

Hoglin

Home: Crimson Forests, Bastion Remnants

Breeding Food: Crimson Fungus

The Hoglin is the only hostile mob that can be bred by players. Feeding Hoglins Crimson Fungus prevents them from despawning, so neither the baby nor the parents will despawn. Baby Hoglins will stay near their parents unless they see a player or are attacked, after which they may either run away or attack. Their attack does much less damage than an adult but with the same knockback. They can grow faster by being fed more Crimson Fungus.

Horse

Home: Plains, Savannahs

Breeding Food: Golden Apple, Golden Enchanted Apple, Golden Carrot

Like Cats and Donkeys, Horses must be tamed before being bred. The foal will most likely retain the color and markings of one of its parents, but there is a 13 in 45 chance for it to have a randomized appearance. Its stats will also be determined by the stats of its parents. It can be fed wheat to grow faster.

Llama

Home: Savannah biomes, Windswept biomes, accompanying Wandering Traders

Breeding Food: Hay Bale

Llamas are another of the mobs that must be tamed before breeding. The baby's appearance is of one of its parents, but like the Horse, its strength and health are determined by those of its parents. Additionally, breeding two Llamas from a Wandering Trader will produce a baby Llama wearing a carpet as well. Baby Llamas will grow into adults faster after being fed more hay bales.

Mooshroom

Home: Mushroom Fields

Breeding Food: Wheat

Breeding two Red Mooshrooms has a 1 in 1,024 chance of producing a Brown Mooshroom, while two Brown Mooshrooms have the same chance of producing a Red Mooshroom. Breeding a Red Mooshroom and Brown Mooshroom together has a 50% chance of creating a baby Mooshroom of either color. The baby can be fed wheat to grow into an adult faster.

Mule

Home: Mules do not spawn naturally.

Breeding Food: Golden Apple, Golden Enchanted Apple, Golden Carrot

A Mule is the product of cross-breeding a Horse with a Donkey. They can be fed Golden Apples or Carrots to grow to adult size, but they cannot be bred together to produce more Mules.

Ocelot

Home: Jungles

Breeding Food: Raw Cod or Raw Salmon

Breeding Ocelots is similar to breeding Foxes. Players will need to sneak up on the Ocelots to feed them the raw fish. The Ocelot Kitten resulting from this will be loyal to the player, and its growth can be sped up using Raw Cod or Raw Salmon. 

Panda

Home: Jungles

Breeding Food: Bamboo

In order to breed Pandas, there needs to be enough Bamboo in the surrounding area. For Java players, there needs to be at least one Bamboo growing nearby. Bedrock players will want at least eight nearby, as the Panda will simply eat any Bamboo given to them if there is not enough Bamboo. The resulting baby Panda will shy away from the player. It can be fed Bamboo to grow faster.

Related: How to Grow Bamboo in Minecraft

Pig

Home: Grassy biomes

Breeding Food: Beetroot, Carrot, Potato

Piglets will stay near their parents while they are young. To speed up their growth, they can be fed either Beetroots, Carrots, or Potatoes.

Rabbit

Home: Desert, Snowy biomes, Flower Forest, Taiga, Meadow, Cherry Grove

Breeding Food: Dandelion, Carrot, Golden Carrot

Breeding Rabbits have a 95% chance of the baby resembling one of its parents and a 5% chance of the baby resembling a Rabbit from the biome the parents are currently in. Killer Rabbits, available only in Java Edition, can breed amongst themselves or with other Rabbits with a chance of producing another Killer Rabbit. A Toast Rabbit will never produce offspring that looks like it. Feed baby Rabbits any of their breeding foods to help them grow faster.

Sheep

Home: Grassy biomes

Breeding Food: Wheat

Baby Sheep can be fed wheat to speed up their growing process. In Bedrock Edition, a baby Sheep will always be the color of one of its parents. In Java Edition, if the color of each adult’s wool can be combined to make a new color, the baby will become that color. For example, a red Sheep and a blue Sheep will have a purple Baby. If the parents’ colors are not compatible, the baby Sheep will be the color of one of its parents.

Sniffer

Home: Eggs found in Warm Ocean Ruins

Breeding Food: Torchflower Seeds

Breeding two Sniffers together will produce one Sniffer Egg. Typically, the Sniffer Egg takes about 20 minutes to hatch. However, placing the Sniffer Egg on a patch of moss will cut the hatching time in half. The hatched baby Sniffer can be fed more torchflower seeds in order to grow more quickly.

Strider

Home: All Nether biomes

Breeding Food: Warped Fungus

Baby Striders can be fed Warped Fungus to help them become adults faster. Like adult Striders, they will be red while in lava and purple outside of lava.

Turtle

Home: Beaches

Breeding Food: Seagrass

Breeding two Turtles together will make one of them pregnant. The pregnant Turtle will be a tiny bit larger and will travel to the beach it spawned on to lay its eggs. It will find a sand block near its spawn and dig around until it layers between 1 and 4 eggs. They can be mined with Silktouch, which will drop eggs at the first stage of growth. Eggs can be trampled and broken, so they must be treated carefully. Feeding baby Turtles seagrass will make them grow faster.

Wolf

Home: Forests, Groves, Taigas

Breeding Food: Raw Meat, Cooked Meat, Rotten Flesh

If the two Wolves being bred follow the same owner, their Wolf Pup will also follow that player. If they follow two separate players, the baby will randomly follow one of the two. If the pup's parents are two different variations of Wolf, the Wolf Pup will be born as one of the two variations. The Wolf Pup can be fed any type of meat to speed up its growth.

For more Minecraft guides, check out What Light Level do Mobs spawn at in Minecraft here on Pro Game Guides.

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